LVHN ACO: For Beneficiaries

How our Accountable Care Organization improves your health care 

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are doctors, other clinicians and hospitals that voluntarily come together to coordinate and improve care for their Medicare patients. At Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), we work with Medicare and your clinicians to provide high-quality, better-coordinated care with a focus on what you need and value. Coordinated care helps ensure you get the right care at the right time, with the goals of less waste, wise spending of your health care dollars and avoiding duplication of health care services.

How the LVHN ACO Impacts Care

  • Our clinicians work together as a team to manage your overall heath with a focus on your physical, mental and social needs, preferences and personal health care goals.
  • You become an active partner with your health care team to develop your treatment plan, letting them know if you have questions or concerns.
  • Your clinicians participate in the ACO because this coordination helps you manage your conditions. It improves the quality of care you receive as well as your health outcomes.
  • You are still in original Medicare, not Medicare Advantage or a Health Maintenance Organization. You still have the right to see any clinician or hospital that accepts Medicare at any time.

Learn more about accountable care directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the Value-Based Care Spotlight website and in this video on Accountable Care Organizations.

Attribution Option: Align With Your LVHN Primary Care Physician

You can select a primary care physician who you believe is most accountable for your care. Visit MyMedicare.gov to choose your physician. Partnering with your physician will allow full engagement in your health care decisions to improve care management and health outcomes. Even if you align, you still have the right to see any physician or hospital that accepts Medicare at any time.

For more information, see the beneficiary fact sheet titled Choose Your Primary Care Clinician on Medicare.gov or watch this video: How to Choose Your Primary Doctor.

How to Opt Out

If you do not want Medicare to share your health care information, you need to do the following:

Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Tell the representative that your clinician is part of an ACO, and you do not want Medicare to share your health care information. TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.

If you change your mind in the future, call 1-800-MEDICARE and tell the representative what you have decided. Lehigh Valley Health Network Accountable Care Organization cannot communicate with Medicare on your behalf.